Tokyo day 6
Well, after logging off last night, I just fell asleep reading and never bothered with dinner. OH well. I wasn't really that hungry anyway.
Another note from yesterday - while I was feeding the fish, I sat in the corner of the ledge and tried to get some of the fish to come to me. I wound up finding crawfish, and dropping some food pellets to them too. They were so cute, trying to grab the floating pellet, and then nibbling on it once they got one.
This morning, it was cold and rainy. Had breakfast and friendly native guide Ichibori-san met me downstairs. We went to an open-air market by a temple, and I got some goodies for the family. He is an amateur photographer and insisted on taking my picture all day long. My own personal photographer so I didn't take so many pictures after a while. I usually hate having my picture taken, but it wasn't worth disappointing him. He was basically escorting me around and paying for all the food and drinks all day (but I managed to pay for lunch while he was in the bathroom).
They had guys in little booths cooking what was essentially waffle batter in molds, with red bean paste as filling. YUM.
Went to do the luck thing - put in 100 yen, shake a metal box and a stick falls out with a number. That's your fortune. I got 86 which was super good fortune. Yay! They also had incense burning in a huge covered brazier so there was warmth.
Then we had lunch in a udon shop with tempura fried oysters. NOM.
Next, we took a boat cruise down the river. We walked around after he bought the tickets and he showed me where Mt. Fuji would be if it wasn't cloudy. He then left me at the boat place and went off to get some sake to drink on the boat. It was the size of a wine bottle and we finished it between the two of us and one small cup for another person we met on the boat. He also bought parmesan reggiano in squares to go with the sake.
The boat looked like something out of science fiction, like it could submerge and we would be fine. They also had some sort of narration with three characters (a blond governess, an 'angry' young man, and a captain that just had glowing eyes in a black head under the hat). I had no idea what they were saying the whole time.
At the end of the boat cruise, we went to the hot springs. O.M.G, this place is the best place ever. You go in, there's lockers with keys for your shoes. Then you go farther in, and get a bracelet key tag that you can use to pay for anything else inside. You get a yukata (robe) and obi (belt), and go into segregated locker areas. There's a set of lockers for bags for 100 yen, so I put the shoe key in there with my bags and took that key into the locker room. There was also a vending machine that sold underwear next to the lockers.
In the locker room, the key on the bracelet tag goes to a locker that matches the number. You get totally undressed and put on the yukata and obi. So the bag locker key went in there. Then you go into another area which is like a mini mall. There's food vendors, bars, seating areas, trinket sellers (including light saber and Harry Potter wand chopsticks), and mini games for the kids. Everyone in there is wearing yukata and obi, even the kids (they have little ones for kids).
There's a separate area for men and women hot springs. In there is another locker room. You get a towel and a washcloth. You get a locker (another key bracelet). You leave the big towel in the locker with the yukata and obi, and take the washcloth with you. The next room has a series of small shower areas with body soap, shampoo and conditioner, a stool, a foot pumice stone, a wooden bucket and a faucet with shower head. You sit on the stool and wash yourself before going into the hotsprings.
The room has several tubs in the indoor hotspring area. Each tub has a temperature, so if you wanted to, you could work your way up to 42c. There's also sauna and steam rooms off this room, and a pool with 20c water for cooling off. One wall of this room is glass looking out into the outdoor hotsprings area. That has some individual wooden tubs, and pools that have natural rock edges. That. Was. Awesome. Like sitting in a hottub in winter. Then I went back inside and there is a full massage spa off the main room. We had agreed to meet at 4pm so I got a facial but I could have easily gotten a full body wash and scrub and spent more money. As it was, the facial wound up being about $40 and it was totally awesome.
When I got back out, we had some tofu, cucumbers with bean paste, and beer. He said that was the typical summer refreshment. Then on the way back out I noticed there was a whole other area just for foot bathing, including the fishie treatment where they nibble the dead skin off of you. 15 minutes for about $20. But I didn't have time, so next time I go there, I'm doing THAT.
I got dressed and we went back inside to get a yukata for girlchild (they only had girlie patterns in there). I noticed when getting dressed that my toenail on the bad toe is *loose* (ew), so I found a bandaid in some tchotchke I got at a health fair in my bag and bandaged it up. It doesn't hurt much if I keep taking Tylenol or keep drinking sake. :D
Then we left and went to Ginza - the equivalent of NYC Times Square or Chicago Michigan Avenue. We went looking for yukata for presents - not the cheezy cheap kind at the open market, good ones. Finally found some, and since I spent over 10000 yen (=$130), I went to get the consumption tax back (about $14).
We had dinner in a little tiny eensy weensy hole in the wall conveyor sushi bar under the train station. It was yummy. New things: you put green tea powder in a cup and there's a hot water spigot every 2 seats. And of course, more sake. Cold sake, and served in a cup in a box, where the box has the overflow sake in it and you pour the sake from the box into the glass when you have finished what's in the glass.
Then we went to the trains to go back to my hotel. We stopped in the middle at Electric town to get a converter because my battery ran out last night, the conference rooms were locked and I couldn't find a grounded plug anywhere. But I'm on line now so it works.
Gonna go down and get something from the vending machine, and then call it a day. Good night world from Thursday night!
Tomorrow plan: get up early to go to the fish market, then find Harley Davidson for tshirts for presents, then Meiji Jinju for more sighseeing. And then Saturday I go home. I miss my honey and my bunnies, but this is still a great adventure.
Another note from yesterday - while I was feeding the fish, I sat in the corner of the ledge and tried to get some of the fish to come to me. I wound up finding crawfish, and dropping some food pellets to them too. They were so cute, trying to grab the floating pellet, and then nibbling on it once they got one.
This morning, it was cold and rainy. Had breakfast and friendly native guide Ichibori-san met me downstairs. We went to an open-air market by a temple, and I got some goodies for the family. He is an amateur photographer and insisted on taking my picture all day long. My own personal photographer so I didn't take so many pictures after a while. I usually hate having my picture taken, but it wasn't worth disappointing him. He was basically escorting me around and paying for all the food and drinks all day (but I managed to pay for lunch while he was in the bathroom).
They had guys in little booths cooking what was essentially waffle batter in molds, with red bean paste as filling. YUM.
Went to do the luck thing - put in 100 yen, shake a metal box and a stick falls out with a number. That's your fortune. I got 86 which was super good fortune. Yay! They also had incense burning in a huge covered brazier so there was warmth.
Then we had lunch in a udon shop with tempura fried oysters. NOM.
Next, we took a boat cruise down the river. We walked around after he bought the tickets and he showed me where Mt. Fuji would be if it wasn't cloudy. He then left me at the boat place and went off to get some sake to drink on the boat. It was the size of a wine bottle and we finished it between the two of us and one small cup for another person we met on the boat. He also bought parmesan reggiano in squares to go with the sake.
The boat looked like something out of science fiction, like it could submerge and we would be fine. They also had some sort of narration with three characters (a blond governess, an 'angry' young man, and a captain that just had glowing eyes in a black head under the hat). I had no idea what they were saying the whole time.
At the end of the boat cruise, we went to the hot springs. O.M.G, this place is the best place ever. You go in, there's lockers with keys for your shoes. Then you go farther in, and get a bracelet key tag that you can use to pay for anything else inside. You get a yukata (robe) and obi (belt), and go into segregated locker areas. There's a set of lockers for bags for 100 yen, so I put the shoe key in there with my bags and took that key into the locker room. There was also a vending machine that sold underwear next to the lockers.
In the locker room, the key on the bracelet tag goes to a locker that matches the number. You get totally undressed and put on the yukata and obi. So the bag locker key went in there. Then you go into another area which is like a mini mall. There's food vendors, bars, seating areas, trinket sellers (including light saber and Harry Potter wand chopsticks), and mini games for the kids. Everyone in there is wearing yukata and obi, even the kids (they have little ones for kids).
There's a separate area for men and women hot springs. In there is another locker room. You get a towel and a washcloth. You get a locker (another key bracelet). You leave the big towel in the locker with the yukata and obi, and take the washcloth with you. The next room has a series of small shower areas with body soap, shampoo and conditioner, a stool, a foot pumice stone, a wooden bucket and a faucet with shower head. You sit on the stool and wash yourself before going into the hotsprings.
The room has several tubs in the indoor hotspring area. Each tub has a temperature, so if you wanted to, you could work your way up to 42c. There's also sauna and steam rooms off this room, and a pool with 20c water for cooling off. One wall of this room is glass looking out into the outdoor hotsprings area. That has some individual wooden tubs, and pools that have natural rock edges. That. Was. Awesome. Like sitting in a hottub in winter. Then I went back inside and there is a full massage spa off the main room. We had agreed to meet at 4pm so I got a facial but I could have easily gotten a full body wash and scrub and spent more money. As it was, the facial wound up being about $40 and it was totally awesome.
When I got back out, we had some tofu, cucumbers with bean paste, and beer. He said that was the typical summer refreshment. Then on the way back out I noticed there was a whole other area just for foot bathing, including the fishie treatment where they nibble the dead skin off of you. 15 minutes for about $20. But I didn't have time, so next time I go there, I'm doing THAT.
I got dressed and we went back inside to get a yukata for girlchild (they only had girlie patterns in there). I noticed when getting dressed that my toenail on the bad toe is *loose* (ew), so I found a bandaid in some tchotchke I got at a health fair in my bag and bandaged it up. It doesn't hurt much if I keep taking Tylenol or keep drinking sake. :D
Then we left and went to Ginza - the equivalent of NYC Times Square or Chicago Michigan Avenue. We went looking for yukata for presents - not the cheezy cheap kind at the open market, good ones. Finally found some, and since I spent over 10000 yen (=$130), I went to get the consumption tax back (about $14).
We had dinner in a little tiny eensy weensy hole in the wall conveyor sushi bar under the train station. It was yummy. New things: you put green tea powder in a cup and there's a hot water spigot every 2 seats. And of course, more sake. Cold sake, and served in a cup in a box, where the box has the overflow sake in it and you pour the sake from the box into the glass when you have finished what's in the glass.
Then we went to the trains to go back to my hotel. We stopped in the middle at Electric town to get a converter because my battery ran out last night, the conference rooms were locked and I couldn't find a grounded plug anywhere. But I'm on line now so it works.
Gonna go down and get something from the vending machine, and then call it a day. Good night world from Thursday night!
Tomorrow plan: get up early to go to the fish market, then find Harley Davidson for tshirts for presents, then Meiji Jinju for more sighseeing. And then Saturday I go home. I miss my honey and my bunnies, but this is still a great adventure.